The Democratic Republic of Congo has sued Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Belgium for using conflict minerals in its supply chain, Reuters reported, citing lawyers representing the country’s government.
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Congo has large deposits of the so-called conflict minerals – tin, tantalum and tungsten, the extraction of which in the DRC and neighboring countries is carried out by armed criminal groups involved in various crimes. These materials themselves are actively used in computers, smartphones and other electronics.
Apple says it does not purchase minerals directly and vets suppliers and also funds organizations that track mineral supplies. Its 2023 report on conflict minerals to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found that none of the conflict minerals or gold smelters or refineries in its supply chain paid or benefited armed groups in Congo or neighboring countries.
But international lawyers representing Congo in court argue that Apple is using minerals from Congo’s plunder that have been legalized through international supply chains, which they say makes the firm complicit in crimes occurring in Congo.
In lawsuits filed Monday with the Paris prosecutor’s office and the Belgian investigative agency, Congo accuses local subsidiaries of Apple France, Apple Retail France and Apple Retail Belgium of a range of offenses related to the use of conflict minerals, including covering up war crimes and laundering questionable minerals. minerals, trading in stolen goods and using deceptive business practices to ensure clean supply chains to consumers.
The lawsuits, prepared by lawyers on behalf of Congo’s justice minister, make allegations not only against local subsidiaries, but also against Apple as a whole. “It is clear that the Apple group, Apple France and Apple Retail France are well aware that their mineral supply chain is based on systemic wrongdoing,” the lawsuit filed in France said, citing reports from the UN and human rights activists on the conflict in eastern Congo.
The lawsuits highlight the role in the fraud of ITSCI, a metals industry-funded monitoring and certification scheme designed to help companies conduct due diligence on suppliers of 3T minerals exported from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
Congo’s lawyers argue that ITSCI has been discredited, including by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), of which Apple is a member, and that Apple nevertheless continues to use ITSCI to portray its supply chain as crime-free. . RMI, which has more than 500 member companies, announced in 2022 that it would remove ITSCI from its list of approved traceability schemes, extending its suspension of the scheme until at least 2026 in July this year.